


Clumsy and Oblivious

by IrrationallyExcited



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 09:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9996371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrrationallyExcited/pseuds/IrrationallyExcited
Summary: (The one where Cisco is painfully clumsy and Barry is painfully oblivious, and Caitlin just wants them to shut up and get a room already, goddammit.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is really terrible, I wrote it ages ago and have never had the will to come back to it but… I’m trying to enjoy writing again and so I want to clear my WIPs so... enjoy

“I’m serious dude that was awesome! You totally broke the sound barrier- my best friend can break the freakin’ sound barrier!” Cisco exclaimed in giddy enthusiasm, waving one hand around to punctuate his excitement, and almost spilling his coffee in the other.

“Yeah, be careful; because my best friend is gonna break his own nose in a minute if he doesn’t calm down.” Barry teased lightheartedly, removing the mug gently from Cisco's hand and placing it on the desk nearby.

“When cool things happen I gesticulate!” He retorts, grinning as he purposefully exaggerates his hand movement to annoy the speedster.

Caitlin, who had the unfortunate timing to walk past right as he yelled that last word, cringes for a moment- her previously impassive expression contorting into a grimace, "Ew I hate that word.”

“Sorry Caitlin, but seriously, Barry can run faster than the speed of sound! That’s insane! We should celebrate.” He’s still rambling like an over excited puppy, and he’s about to blurt another out-of-the-blue idea when Caitlin interrupts him sardonically;  
“Yeah Cisco, do you want to yell that any louder? I’m not sure everyone in Coast City quite caught that.”

Both Barry and Cisco roll their eyes at the same time, shrugging at the irritated woman like a pair of mischievous schoolboys, “You’re such a Buzzkill Snow.”

“You’re such a child Cisco.” She retorts, stealing a sip of his coffee before walking out of the cortex, and if Barry didn’t know better he’d say she was swinging her hips on purpose.

“What was that about? Is she mad at us?” Barry asked quietly, eyeing the empty hallway in confusion.

“Nah, she’s just making fun of me, don’t worry about it.” Cisco explains, looking down slightly, his previous excitement replaced by an almost bashful reservation.

“Oh, okay. Well I should probably go back to work, Captain Singh is gonna kill me if I don’t finish those reports soon.” He points out, not sounding nearly as frantic about the situation as he probably should- it’s only his job he’s got to worry about, nothing important of course.

In a buzz of glowing yellow electricity, he zips to the alcove to replace his supersuit and out of the door in his regular clothes before Cisco even has the chance to reply, his hesitant ’Bye Barry’ dissolving into the faint breeze left behind.

Sighing disdainfully, he picks up his half empty coffee mug and wanders over to the red leather suit, letting his free hand absently trace the familiar seams and stitching, and the faint scent of Barry's sweat and cologne woven into the fabric makes his stomach flutter nervously. The feeling is just a mere echo of the usual butterflies he feels whenever he stands less than two feet away from Barry. His friend... absolutely mesmerising friend… but nothing more.

And the reminder of that fact kills him nearly every day.

^–^

“Hi Cisco, is Barry gone?” Caitlin appears out of nowhere, making Cisco jump and drop half of the stack of papers he's holding.

“Jesus, Caitlin. Some warning would be nice next time, you’re almost worse than Barry when he decides to flash in whenever he wants.” He complains, half-heartedly shuffling the dropped papers together and pushing them aside.  
“Speaking of Barry… you two seemed to be having a lot of fun together earlier…” She hints, not even close to being subtle or sneaky. This girl…

“Subtle- Caitlin, well done...” He drawls with a roll of his eyes, unquestionably dodging her prying.

“Oh come onnn, you like him don’t you? What am I saying, it’s obvious.” She sure is persistent, but Cisco isn’t going to give up that easily-

“Fine, maybe I have a little crush on Barry.” Or maybe he is gonna give up that easily. “I didn’t want to say anything to you about it because, well… Ronnie.” 

She sighed quietly, looking at the floor for a second, before switching her blank expression to a shy grin and looking back up at her best friend, “I thought it would be difficult to talk about, too. You know, you and Barry, but I don’t know, I guess I’m just happy for you more than anything.“

Cisco tilted his head thoughtfully, standing up and grabbing her hands supportively, “You know I’m here for you, Caitlin. I don’t want to make you miss Ronnie even more than you already do. That’s not fair to you.”

“Of course I miss Ronnie. I would give anything to have him back, but I know that’s not going to happen; so I just want to see you find something like what Ronnie and I had. You deserve it.” The look in her eyes told Cisco she was being honest, and he quickly hugged her, feeling her relax into his arms in a way she hasn’t since her fiancé died, maybe she really is doing better.

“Anyway, there’s no way anything is even going to happen between me and Barry. He’s Barry; I just need to get over it.” He changes the subject as soon as they separate, and Caitlin just hums, frowning.

“I’ve never known you to give up on anything Cisco, don’t disappoint me now.” 

He knows she’s just trying to be supportive, but somehow, her words make him feel just a little bit more optimistic- if only he could be as stubborn as she always is.

–

The next morning, Cisco is stood in Jitters with his morning latte, taking advantage of the free WiFi to download work documents onto his phone. While he waits, he lets his gaze drift around the busy room, and his thoughts can’t help but drift to his conversation with Caitlin yesterday.

He doesn’t know what to do anymore, at first he was forcing himself not to even think about Barry like that out of respect for Caitlin, but now she’s given him her blessing- she even seems to want him and Barry together. But that makes no sense; there’s no way someone like me has a chance with someone like-

“Barry! Hi, what are you doing here?” Cisco blurts, nearly dropping his to-go cup of coffee when the guy he was just thinking about turns around in the queue and grins at him in recognition.

“Uh, Iris works here, remember? I had to get something to eat before work, fingerprint analysis is exhausting.” He jokes, but Cisco doesn’t realize the humor in his voice at first, instead filling with panic at the thought of Barry fainting again.

“Oh, did you run out of those protein bars I made you? I can get you more, there’s a whole stash at star labs… I guess you’d have to run and get them though, which defeats the purpose if you collapse on the way. Uh… cronuts! You like those right? Eat a couple cronuts and I can get you more protein bars for later.” He babbles, barely paying attention to the steaming cup in his hand, until- “Shit.”

He managed to spill coffee all over his hand and up his forearm, but luckily Barry can grab a handful of tissues from the counter to solve the problem before the heat really starts to sink in- Duh, he has super speed idiot.

“Woah, Cisco, careful. Is your hand okay?” He asks, moving the drink away again and leaving one hand lingering on the least red part of his skin to offer something like- comfort?

Another bout of butterflies explodes in the bottom of his stomach, and he blinks frantically for a moment, trying to clear the constant chant of ‘Barry is touching my hand, oh my god oh my god oh my god’ in his head.

Nodding dumbly, he slowly takes the coffee-stained napkins out of Barry’s hand- that’s not touching his hand, and throws them in the trash, purposely stalling for time to collect his thoughts, but lucky for him Barry instead speaks again;  
“And don’t worry about the food thing; I’ve still got plenty of protein bars. I was just kidding about work being exhausting, it’s actually just mind-numbingly boring.” 

“Maybe you could use a distraction.”

“What?”

“I mean, to- you know… make it more interesting. Never mind. I should just go.” Nearly forgetting his coffee, Cisco couldn’t have moved faster if he had superspeed- to get away from that mortifying conversation. All he can do is just hope to god that Barry doesn’t think anything weird of it.

Who is he kidding? Barry couldn’t be more oblivious if he wore a blindfold.

–

“Seriously Cisco? You’re so hopeless.” Caitlin teased, smirking over her fries. Of course as soon as she heard about the ‘incident’ at Jitters that morning, she had to drag her best friend to the nearest Big Belly Burger for lunch and a side of torture.

“Shut up Caitlin, I know.” Cisco replies, burying his face in his hands in shame, careful to avoid the greasy tips of his fingers.

“It’s adorable, but incredibly frustrating. Why can’t you just talk to him?” She questions, tilting her head sympathetically. She knows exactly why Cisco can’t just talk to Barry about how he feels, he’s terrified.

Everybody knows the kind of emotional constipation that comes from spending the majority of your young-adulthood studying to become a doctor or scientist, it definitely didn’t leave space for learning to navigate hormones or relationships or feelings. Just look at Hartley Rathaway, it takes a special kind of genius to be that much of a dick.

“Still, I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit, Cisco. You’re a great guy, you don’t have to panic every time someone you like enters the room, and it’s Barry; even if he didn’t feel the same way he’s too lovely to be a dick about it.” She added after the pause, practically reading Cisco’s mind.

“Maybe you’re right, but I don’t even know how to begin taking that kind of risk. It’s just a crush, it’ll fade, probably.”

“Yeah, probably…”

–

Of course, the universe hates him. 

Well, not the universe, but whatever other-worldly force that is making Cisco think and feel all these things.

He’s not getting over anything; quite the opposite, actually. Every time Barry walks in the room his stomach flips and his brain turns to mush, every time someone says his name he blushes; even the stupid ‘Flash Sighting’ alerts on his phone give him butterflies.

Don’t even get him started on the suit. God that suit, why did it have to be so tight? And red. And… Leathery! Of course the answers to all of these questions are simple really, but it doesn’t change the fact that Cisco can barely get the images of Barry in that suit- his suit- out of his head.

It’s the red that gets to him the most, usually when he has a redvine between his teeth, and then all he can think about is taking that red suit off Barry with his teeth, and biting his lips until they’re as red as the candy and-

Yep, the universe hates him. 

Definitely.

Like just now, as Cisco stares blankly at his computer screen, thoughts hazily running through all of the little fantasies he’d managed to conjure up about him and Barry to pass the time. Suddenly, a flash of yellow lighting fills the room and you-know-who appears behind him, cowl pulled off and hair windswept- with a visible sheen of sweat coating his face and beading down his neck-

Dirty thoughts, shut up.

“Hey Cisco, I was in the neighborhood, wondered what you were up to.”

Cisco may have thought Barry looked good tired, but he sounded like sex-on-a-stick, breathing hard, voice cracking just slightly, his normal cheerful tone just a little bit lower and more gravelly. Jesus, he was screwed.

So screwed in fact, that he managed to forget the mouthful of Slushee he had just sipped, and he almost spits it out all over himself. Luckily though, he has the presence of mind to swallow instead- not like that goddammit- and ends up half-inhaling the icy drink, earning a skull-splitting brain freeze for his trouble.

Immediately, Barry notices Cisco’s distress, as he coughs and wheezes, scrunching his eyes shut against the stabbing chill in his brain. Jumping into action, Barry sprints out of the room and back again in less than a second, having procured a water bottle from God-knows-where.

Choking down almost half of the water, Cisco blinks back the tears in his eyes and grins sheepishly back up at Barry. “Thanks,” He moves to place the water bottle down and almost drops it on the floor, when did that desk get so far away?

Barry catches the falling bottle before disaster can strike, and puts it down with the cap back on, an inquisitive look on his face.

“Uh, Cisco? Are you okay? You seem a little freaked.” He asks, concern and bewilderment lacing his tone.

Blushing slightly, Cisco turns back towards his computer in a poorly-concealed attempt to hide his embarrassment, but Barry easily picks up on his best friend's distress- He’s a superhero; it’s like, his job.

“Come on, you can talk to me. Whatever it is.” He adds, grinning in that adorably lopsided way that just melts Cisco’s heart and- Not again…

“Nothing! He practically yells, jumping up and sprinting out of the room, ignoring the hot tears that started to fall down his cheeks for no apparent reason.

'I’ve really got to get a grip on myself,' Cisco tells himself, 'this is getting out of control.'

^-^


End file.
